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To celebrate Earth Month, Green Mountain Energy Company is partnering with the “World’s Most Famous Office Building” to educate visitors and tenants about the benefits of the iconic building’s use of renewable energy. Today, Green Mountain unveiled a four-window renewable energy display in the Fifth Avenue lobby of the Empire State Building.

The display highlights the benefits of pollution-free renewable energy versus polluting fossil fuels and also educates people about the economic and environmental attributes of renewable energy. The display is open during Earth Month, now through Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Earth Month is the 30-day celebration of Earth Day, which takes place April 22, 2011.

“It is great that the Empire State Building has offered us the chance to educate the visitors to its world famous Observatories about the benefits of choosing renewable energy,” said Paul Thomas, CEO, Green Mountain Energy Company. “Green Mountain was founded with an environmental mission: to change the way power is made. And by reaching hundreds of thousands of Empire State Building visitors and employees during Earth Month and educating them about the importance of renewable energy, we are a step closer to fulfilling our mission.”

The Renewable Energy Window Display
photo-2_The renewable energy display contains four different windows that educate on the following topics: sources of renewable energy, economic and environmental benefits of generating energy from these sources, renewable energy potential for the U.S. and the environmental impact the Empire State Building’s purchase has. Below are the themes of each window.

“Everyone who walks inside the Empire State Building knows that it is beautifully restored to greatness and a leader in energy efficiency in the existing built environment. Green Mountain’s exhibit will also let them know that all of this is powered, free of compromise, by clean energy,” says Anthony Malkin of building owner Empire State Building Company.

The Empire State Building recently became New York City’s largest commercial user of 100% renewable energy through its two- year commitment to purchase nearly 55 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year of wind power from Green Mountain. The purchase is more than double the amount of renewable power that any other commercial customer in New York City is currently buying.

Because wind-generated power is a pollution-free source of energy, the Empire State Building is avoiding nearly 100 million pounds of polluting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually. That benefits the environment as much as:

- Not taking nearly 40 million taxi cab rides;
- All the homes in New York City turning off all their lights for a week 1;
- Recycling 39 million pounds of newspaper.

The renewable energy to supply the Empire State Building is being purchased in the form of wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from NRG Energy, Green Mountain’s parent company. Purchasing RECs is also a widely accepted way to balance out the greenhouse gas emissions of electricity consumption. Purchasing RECs in the same quantity as the Empire State Building’s electricity consumption ensures that the amount of energy used by the building is added to the U.S. power grid from renewable sources and supports the further development of these projects.

Green Mountain also offers NY City residents in the Con Edison service territory a choice of competitively priced clean energy products. The company began serving residential and commercial customers in New York in November 2009.

The Empire State Building’s green power purchase further reinforces the building’s sustainability strategy. In July, the Empire State Building unveiled a $2 million interactive, multimedia sustainability exhibit at the second floor visitor’s center, which showcases a $20 million energy retrofit project that was announced with President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The installation aims to educate the millions of people who visit the building every year on the positive global impact of both energy-efficient building and sustainable living practices.

About the Empire State Building
Soaring 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan, the Empire State Building (esbnyc.com) is the “World’s Most Famous Office Building.” With new investments in infrastructure, public areas and amenities, the Empire State Building has attracted first-rate tenants in a diverse array of industries from around the world. The skyscraper’s robust broadcasting technology supports all major television and FM radio stations in the New York metropolitan market. The Empire State Building was named America’s favorite building in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects. The Empire State Building Observatory is one of the world’s most beloved attractions and is the region’s #1 tourist destination. Follow us: facebook.com/empirestatebuilding or @ESBObservatory.

About Green Mountain Energy Company
Green Mountain (GreenMountain.com), the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, was founded in 1997 “to change the way power is made.” The company is the longest serving green power marketer in the United States. Green Mountain offers consumers and businesses the choice of cleaner electricity products from renewable sources, such as wind, as well as a variety of carbon offset products. Green Mountain customers have collectively helped avoid over 11.3 billion pounds of CO2 emissions. As a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG), Green Mountain is backed by one of the nation’s largest renewable power producers.

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